Tank raid on evacuation zone off Rafah kills 21; Israel denies role

CAIRO/DUBAI: Israeli strikes on a tent camp in an evacuation area west of Rafah killed at least 21, Gaza health authorities said Tuesday, as tanks reached the centre of Gaza for the military to take control the southern city for the first time.

Two days after an Israeli airstrike on another camp stirred global condemnation, Gaza emergency services said that four tank shells hit a cluster of tents in Al-Mawasi, a coastal area that Israel had advised civilians in Rafah to move to for safety. At least 12 of the dead were women, as per medical officials in the Hamas militant-run Palestinian enclave.

The Israeli military denied conducting the attack, saying, "Contrary to the reports from the last few hours, the IDF [Israel Defence Forces] did not strike the Humanitarian Area in Al-Mawasi."


In central Rafah, tanks and armoured vehicles mounted with machineguns were seen near Al-Awda mosque, witnesses told Reuters. The Israeli military said its forces continued to operate in Rafah, without commenting on reported advances into the city centre.

Designated humanitarian zone
Global unease over Israel's three-week-old Rafah offensive has turned to outrage after an attack on Sunday set off a blaze in a tent camp in a western district of the city, killing at least 45 people. World leaders voiced horror at the fire in a designated "humanitarian zone" of Rafah where families uprooted by fighting elsewhere had sought shelter, and urged the implementation of a World Court order last week for a halt to Israel's assault.

Tuesday's attack occurred in an area designated by Israel as an expanded humanitarian zone, to which it had called on civilians in Rafah to evacuate for their own safety when it launched its incursion in early May. Residents said Rafah's Tel Al-Sultan neighbourhood, the scene of Sunday's night-time strike in which tents and shelters were set ablaze as families settled down to sleep, was still being bombarded. "Tank shells are falling everywhere. Many families have fled their houses in western Rafah under fire throughout the night," one resident told Reuters.

Around one million people have fled the Israeli offensive in Rafah since early May, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) reported on Tuesday. A video obtained by Reuters showed families on the move again, carrying their belongings through Rafah's shattered streets, their weary children trailing behind them.

'Couldn't have caused blaze'
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Israeli military said its munitions alone "could not" have caused a deadly blaze that killed 45 people in Rafah. "Our munition alone could not have ignited a fire of this size," Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters of Sunday's incident. He said two munitions bearing 17 kh of "explosive material" had targeted two senior Hamas officials.

In Cairo, an Egyptian security delegation continued efforts in coordination with Qatar and the United States to reactivate talks to reach a truce in Gaza and release hostages, Egypt's state-affiliated Al-Qahera News TV channel said, citing a senior official.

The official said Egypt took a firm stance against dealing with the issue of reopening the Rafah crossing with Gaza except with Palestinian and international parties, and not with Israel, whose forces seized the crossing in May.